Andreas Lieber, head of mobile business development and partnerships, Groupon

Head of mobile business development and partnerships, Groupon: “we see people increasingly using mobile devices as a means of interacting with their local surroundings.”

Andreas Lieber, head of mobile business development and partnerships, Groupon, USA, is taking part in a digital innovation debate in the morning of Day One of the LTE World Summit, taking place on the 24th-26thJune 2013, at the Amsterdam RAI, Netherlands. Ahead of the show we speak to him about how the mobile space has been crucial to the success of Groupon over the past two years.

To what extent is Groupon a digital company – and why is innovation in this space so important?

Groupon is at its core a digital/tech company. More than 200 million of our subscribers receive our emails, view our mobile services and search the Web every day to find curated, unbeatably-priced offers from an ever-expanding list of more than 2,000 individual types of goods and services.

Innovation in this space is extremely important because just a few years ago our business was predominantly driven by our daily email. In Q1 2013, less than 45 per cent of our North American transactions came from email, with mobile and search accounting for a greater percentage of our total business.

Since its launch in 2008 smartphones and tablets have changed the mobile landscape. What impact has this had on how you communicate with your customers?

More than 40 million people worldwide have downloaded our mobile apps, with more than seven million of those downloads coming in Q1 2013. Groupon has tremendous penetration in the mobile space and is a natural fit for this medium. As a result, our mobile business has skyrocketed from about 20 per cent of North American transactions two years ago to 45 per cent in March 2013. And, the average mobile customer spends well over 50 per cent more than Web-only customers.

Tell us more about how partnerships with mobile networks and use of mobile technology can help create business opportunities for Groupon.

Our apps work across multiple platforms, and we see people increasingly using mobile devices as a means of interacting with their local surroundings. And partnerships are a great way to provide relevant, incremental access points to Groupon products via the partner’s content and discovery services.

Has the potential of digital now been fully leveraged or is there scope for greater innovations in the future?

There is definitely room for us to further leverage our mobile platform. We’re constantly advancing our personalisation and are simultaneously growing our inventory, which will enable us to provide more relevant deals based on your location, current intent and personal preferences. We’re also very focused on increasing our mobile search capabilities to enable our customers to navigate this expanded inventory. Watch this space for some news soon.

Why did you choose to attend the LTE World Summit?

Mobile fits right in with our mission to make it easy for people around the world to search and discover great businesses at unbeatable prices. With its global scope and wide spectrum of attendees, the LTE World Summit is a great way for us to meet people and potential partners across the entire mobile ecosystem.